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Level of detail
This article is about Level of Detail ("LOD") files in Just Cause 2 and Just Cause 3 file directory. LOD lights, as seen from a glitched unarmed UH-10 Chippewa. The map marker is at the default location for Kem Pulau Kerbau. These are the lights that should only be visible at distance. When they disappear at about 150 meters, they should be replaced by high resolution lights, which correctly do not spawn, because this is a glitch.]] Description (JC2) Viewed from a distance on the game Map an object in the game world can only be seen in the lowest resolution form (lowest level of detail). This is to save computer/console memory. As the player begins to approach the object, the low resolution object disappears and is replaced by a higher resolution object. The highest resolution is visible at the shortest range. The more levels of detail there are, the more smooth the transitions between the levels are. If there's too few levels, or if the player is travelling quickly (for example by plane), the levels will also be replaced faster and sometimes some levels could even be skipped. The high resolution objects visibly differ from the low resolution objects, so an unsmooth transition results in instant changes in the game environment. In Just Cause 2 this is most likely to be noticeable when approaching Panau City by a fast plane. Some games like GTA4 have over 10 levels of detail and games like Team Fortress 2 have closer to 20. Some games use "hard coded" programming to display the level of detail from a certain distance (Far Z LOD). In Just Cause 2 they're usually sorted from 0 being the highest LOD (quality) to any number of lower quality LOD levels. LOD file (JC2) Each .lod file have 6 lines. 1st line = highest LOD 5th line = lowest LOD 6th line = distance between models "LOD number" * "distance" (counts from 0) Example Rico LOD file: Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm 1 This telling us "mc01_lod1-rico.rbm" will be replaced 5 times with same model, that means model will be always same on all 5 LOD stages with distance 1 unit. Lets take a look on other LOD file: Structures\General_Structures\Buildings\GB017\GB017_LOD1-B.rbm Structures\General_Structures\Buildings\GB017\GB017_LOD1-B.rbm Structures\General_Structures\Buildings\GB017\GB017_LOD2-B.rbm Structures\General_Structures\Buildings\GB017\GB017_LOD2-B.rbm - 20 If you see "-" instead of text, that means model will be replaced with nothing, it just disappear when it reach LOD 5 stage in this case Anomalies and glitches (JC2) Rico LOD Here is an example of the Rico LOD file: Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm Characters\MainCharacters\Rico\mc01_lod1-rico.rbm 1 It is unclear why Rico has this and why the same file is reproduced 5 times over and what the number at the end of the file actually does, it could be that originally there were LOD files created for Rico but were removed because there isn't a time in the game when you don't see Rico from a distance, he is always on-screen and right near the "camera". U1 LOD lights There are lights at sea at about X:27220: Y:26200, visible only at night and from a distance over 150 meters. This is where the U1 nuclear submarine is located during the mission "A Just Cause". The fact that these lights spawn outside the mission, when the submarine is not there, is a glitch. Fuel Silo LOD lights A few settlements have rows of 4 red lights (visible only at night) that disappear at close range. These are exactly identical to the red lights on the tops of Fuel Silos. These settlements don't have any fuel silos, or at least none at those locations, so the lights are some kind of glitches, left over from game development. Just Cause 3 Feel free to edit. Gallery (JC3) Maestrale burnt town LOD comparison.png|Burnt town LOD comparison. See also: Cut game content. Glitched LOD north-east of the volcano.png|Glitched LOD at the north-east coast of the volcano. JC3 industrial facility 1.2.png|View from the Unnamed industrial facility at N 40 46.590 E 5 37.400. Notice how the distant Wind Turbines don't spin, all look the same and have a thick middle area. Just Cause 4 , because he's moving very quickly when the vehicle is propelled and spun by the boosters.]] Category:File Formats Category:Modding Category:Content